Aunt Mary Margaret's Macaroni Salad Recipe

 My Mamaw's sister-- my great Aunt Mary Margaret Groah was a fantastic cook.  She taught me a lot of things in the kitchen.   She had a very dry sense of humor and was much loved.   She had a quiet patience about her that was a good example.   

    One of the things she taught me was how to make macaroni salad.  

Mom, Mamaw, and Aunt Mary Margaret all made it this way.

The key to a great traditional macaroni salad or potato salad is the cooked egg dressing base.

I will try to type this out, but a word of warning. It is a recipe I don't measure  things precisely. I do it by taste and eyeball.  

    Ingredients:

2 eggs

1/2 cup sugar

2 TBSP cider vinegar or vinegar to taste

salt

pepper

1 small sweet onion diced

3 stalks celery finely sliced

1 cup sharp cheddar cheese cubes

mayonnaise

mustard

celery seed

1 cup diced tomato or sliced cherry tomatoes

1 small cucumber peeled and diced

3 cups macaroni noodles dry

Directions:

Bring a 3 quart pot of water to boil on stove top. Add salt to water.

Add 3 cups dry macaroni noodles

stir well and boil about 10 minutes or until tender

Drain cooked macaroni in colander.

Rinse noodles with cold water and allow to cool slightly

In a large tupperware container add your chopped veggies and cheese cubes. 

Toss in macaroni noodles

Shake on salt and pepper

Stir well.

Cooked Egg Dressing Directions

This is what makes the salad so focus up on this step. It has to have 100% of your attention until it is finished.  It can be a little tricky.

Below is a photo of the cooked egg dressing base. This stage is before it thickens up.  

   Place a non stick sauce pot on stove and turn burner on high.

add in 2 raw whole eggs and whisk well.

Add in 1/2 cup sugar and whisk well again

Add in 2 TBSP of cider vinegar or vinegar to taste (to where it tastes how you want)

and whisk well. 

Bring to a boil whisking constantly.

Allow it to thicken up to a frothy thickened pale yellow.

Remove from heat.

Whisk in mayo, mustard, salt, pepper, and celery seed to taste.

Pour over noodles and veggies in tupperware and stir well until all coated.

Place in refrigerator and allow to chill for several hours.

Below is a photo of the finished product. I used bow tie pasta noodles, but I usually use small elbow macaroni.  I just needed to use this up.  This is good, but I think I went too easy on the vinegar and mustard. 

Above: My mom Earline taught me the most about cooking.

Above: My great grandfather McKinley Brooks standing in the back row.  fourth woman over from him in the center is my grandma Edna. She taught me a lot about cooking.  

Below:  My mother-in-law Lena Mae and next to her Aunt Mary "Mike" Cupp both these ladies taught me about cooking, raising kids, the Lord and how to run a house.   

I have a photo here of Aunt Mary Margaret, but I will have to dig it up and scan it in.